Introduction After nearly four decades of a consistently downward trend, the consumer price index (CPI) in 2021 increased at the fastest rate since 1982, marking a clear reversal of the previous trend.[1] Although various economic disruptions related to the…
Introduction In part one of this defense primer, readers learned that the defense budget is a significant portion of the federal budget (about 15% in 2019), approximately 96% of which is Department of Defense spending (the Pentagon’s…
Most Americans know that the defense budget constitutes a substantial portion of federal spending, but there remains plenty of confusion as to just how much. While a quick search can answer that for you (spoiler alert: $714 billion in…
As 2021 begins, America is beset by a host of urgent challenges. At home, the nation remains deeply divided in the wake of a bitterly contested election...
Key Takeaways Several times each year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes a baseline – a policy-neutral snapshot of the federal budget meant to inform lawmakers about future trends, such as the sustained imbalance between revenues and spending. Often, the…
Every year the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issues a long-term budget outlook covering the next 30 years assuming no changes in current law. The last such report was released in June of 2019 and covered the 30 years ending…
Two deadlines converge by coincidence this year. They are not related to one another and the precise consequences of failing to deal with them in a timely manner are different. Missing either of the deadlines, however, has the potential to…
President-elect Donald Trump and the new Congress have many challenges to tackle. Hovering over all of them is our nation’s unsustainable fiscal policy. New proposals, whether on the spending or tax side of the budget, will not be credible if…